Naruto: Unabridged
by VigilantSempai
Summary: An average teen, Naruto prefers to be left alone, or at least isolated from the rest of his classmates. If fact it expected. He's just a high school student with slightly higher than average test scores, so how is he suppose to survive in a world of Shinobi, especially when it seams to know about him. UNDER RECONSTRUCTION


AN: Welcome fellow nerds, geeks, otakus, weirdos and creeps. It's me, VigilantSempai with the very first chapter of **Two in the Hands: One in the Heart**. This is a modern Naruto fanfiction. There will be several genderbends, lemons, limes, and unexpected plot twists. With that said, the rating of this story will be rated M.

Naruto will have a harem in this story, for those of you that are interested in the pairings. Additionally, I will have the story loosely follow the Naruto canon, but it will diverge into something that is totally independent. I appreciate comments and especially am thankful for meaningful criticism, though if you are just flaming to flame, said flame will be used to keep me warm at night.

Now! The story!

Another flash of lightning illuminated the night, basking the living room in bluish-white light for the briefest of seconds, before it was once again swallowed by darkness again.

 _One…_

 _Two…_

 _Thr-_

 **Ka-boom!**

The thunder rattled his eardrums, drowning the world out into white noise before they picked up on the more sound of the rain rasping against the window. It was by no means gentle, the harsh winds whipping the drops of water solidly against the house. Just looking out the window, he could see the light of the street light streaming through; warped, as the collective waves of water ran down the glass pane.

Naruto blinked and sat up having been up for a minute. His muscles protested while his bones grated against each other. He had been sleeping on the couch for a while. Naruto ran a hand through his hair, his blond spikes shifting right back into place as soon as his hand left.

A series of flashes illuminated the night again, drawing Naruto's cerulean blue eyes, lingering on the dark sky outside. Even through the rain bogged window, he could see the deep purple clouds in the sky. It was like someone had giving the sky a good punch.

Naruto wanted to smile at his observation. He wanted to feel the pleasure at making a good natured analogy. He wanted to laugh, letting something other sound besides the thunder fill the silent house. Under normal circumstances, he might have, just to feel…

But not tonight. It was too similar to _that_ night to feel.

" _What are you afraid of, nee-chan?"_

 _"...I'll tell you when you're older."_

 _"C'mon, you gotta be afraid of something."_

 _"I didn't say I wasn't afraid of something, I said I would tell you when you are older, Naruto."_

 _"How much older?"_

 _"Naruto…"_

 _"..."_

 _"... What are you afraid of?"_

 _"... I don't want to be alone again."_

 _"..."_

 _"..."_

 _"... Say my name, Naruto. For me… Please…"_

Naruto shook his head, shaking off the clutching finger of the memory. He stood up, and stalked away from the couch not even bothering to turn on any lights. He knew the house better than any other place in the world. He walked through the house, his soft footsteps echoing down the halls.

The house was large, enormously so. It was more of a mansion than anything. three stories tall- not including the two basements and attic- the house was a large square; with two living rooms, and dining rooms (A formal and informal for each) a large kitchen with granite counter tops, and a study. All on the first floor. The second and third floor were both devoted to living space, with the second floor having five large bedrooms, each connected to a personal bathroom.

The third floor only had three bedrooms. The smallest was larger than the other bedrooms on the second floor, and, since Naruto had taken to calling his house a mansion, he called it the The Heir's Room. The next largest was a room fit for a ruler, which he appropriately called The King's Room. The last and largest room, his, was so large that it took up just under half of the total space of the third floor.

He'd measured, and for it's size he called it The God's Room

There was a large garden in the back of the property, along with a large flat stone area, and a large storage shed that held excess furniture and a large cooling cellar. All of it was surrounded by a twelve foot stone wall on all sides. All in all it was a really _fucking_ big house. And it was all fully furnished with couches, loveseats, lamps, tables, bedside tables, beds, dressers, etc. And it was all cleaned by Naruto every three days.

That sucked.

Naruto finally reached his room, the largest one, and took off his shirt and almost face planted taking his socks off as he trekked to the larger-than-necessary bed. He flopped on top of the covers of the bed, ignoring the fact that he had jeans and a belt on, not even closing the door for any needed psychological security.

Normally kids would do that. He'd seen movies about a family moving into a new large mansion, only to find that it was haunted and everyone is killed in the end- with the exception of the hot protagonist girl and her loyal-to-the-point-of-idiocy boyfriend. Movies like that just reinforced the horrors of the night into teens, but Naruto wasn't like that. He knew nothing was going to get him while he slept.

No evil spirits were going to kill him and eat his intestines leaving an interesting bloodsplater for the police to fine. No psychotic serial killer was going to skin him and wear his skin after bathing in his blood to 'feel complete'. And definitely no stalker girl was going to kill him then perform necrophilic acts to his unresponsive body for her own personal pleasure… at least he hoped, that one girl, Isane, had been pretty clingy.

Yeah, nothing was going to kill him in his home, after all he was completely alone.

The same dull grey sky hung over the city, like it had the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, and before that, and that…

Konoha was experiencing the closing of the third week of heavy overcast, and it was predicted that one last storm, tonight, would follow before sunshine and gentle breezes.

Naruto absentmindedly shifted his headphones, the music drowning out the loud indistinguishable chatter of the other high school students. The junior students of Konoha West-Central High were all piled into four separate, obnoxiously yellow buses that drove down a deserted interstate road. Naruto tore his gaze away from the rolling countryside' grass covered slopes, to glance around the crowded vehicle.

From his seat in the back, Naruto could see Inuzuka Kiba, a boy with wild brown hair and slitted eyes the same color, kneeling in his seat his back turned to the front. He wore the same outfit that all boys at their school wore: A black blazer over a white button-up shirt, a red tie around his neck. Even though he couldn't see it, Naruto knew that he was wearing the black slacks mandatory for school, his signature dog chain looped through through two belt loops around his waist.

Next to him, his legs splayed in the isle, sat Rock Lee, his white teeth flashing in his signature smile. He too, like Kiba, sat with his back to the front. As Naruto watched, Lee's mouth opened to epic proportions, a _'Yosh'_ left his mouth so loud that he could hear it through his headphones. Dressed in the school uniform, but his hands' were bandaged. They always were, and whenever questioned about it, he always screamed something about preserving youth.

He was a weird kid.

The two boys were conversing with two girls, and Naruto could tell by their hair, platinum blond and bubblegum pink, that they were Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. They were the top two girls of his class in everything: looks, grades, everything. The only one who could compair was Hyūga Hinata, thought she was more shy than those two. They looked quite good in the girl's school uniform: A black and white sailor uniform, a crimson neckerchief around their necks.

Turning around, Naruto's eyes landed on the stoic Aburame Shino, his black hair splaying like it had exploded out of his scalp. He was a quiet guy, who was into bugs, logic and bugs. He never took of those infernal shades, even inside. Despite that, Naruto knew he wasn't a douche, and was actually really nice and helpful.

The bus hit a pothole in the road, jousting it's passengers. Naruto's hand shot out and grabbed the back of the seat in front of him, steadying himself. After a second, he realized that he hadn't grabbed the cool, leather-like seat, instead it was warm and soft and…

He glanced to his right, feeling like a bucket of ice had just been dumped on him. Forcing himself not so show any fear, Naruto looked straight into the glaring, obsidian eyes of Uchiha Satsuki.

They both snatched their hands back at the same time. Quickly pausing his music, Naruto took off his headphones, letting them hang from his neck, he gave her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, Satsuki," he said scratching the back of his head. She scowled, or, in her case, scowled harder.

"Whatever," she said, her hands folding neatly in her lap. "Don't let it happen again." Like every time she spoke to anyone, her voice was nearly devoid of emotion the only evidence to the contrary was the sliver of ice that slid from her throat. Despite her almost contemptuous tone, Naruto didn't let it get to him; instead he just smiled at her.

"Yeah, okay." Satsuki looked at him a second longer, her black eyes scrutinizing him coolly before she huffed and turned away. Naruto stared at her a second longer, taking the time to analyze her like she had done him just seconds ago.

Satsuki, for all intents and purposes, was the idol of every single girl (and quite a few guys) in their school. She was the epitome of perfection, to the student body and faculty alike. With a genius that was only surpassed by the Lazy Sloth, Nara Shika, herself, Satsuki sets herself apart by getting nothing lower than one-hundred percent on any assignment no matter what, as opposed to the Sloth who puts in no effort for anything over a 'B' on a proactive day. Despite obviously taking time to keep her brain in peak condition, she does the same to her body, that once again puts her as the most athletic girl in the whole school, despite them being a fifteen-year-old first years.

Just as the athletic genius she was, Satsuki would have been within the top ten in the school for eligibility even if she was ugly. No girl in Naruto's school could be considered ugly. Plain? Maybe. Average? Definitely, but never in any way ugly. Sakura and Ino were considered tied for the prettiest girls in the whole school, with Hinata taking a close second, but everyone, _everyone_ , knew that it was only because Satsuki was on another level from them.

Where Sakura and Ino were crazy smart, Satsuki was a genius.

Were they were toned, fit and the best; Satsuki was toned,fit, athletic and better.

Were they were pretty and beautiful, Satsuki was ethereal.

Satsuki was, without a doubt, the number one girl in the whole year and school. that was unanimously agreed and accepted, even by the other girls. In fact, instead of deterring girls to back away when she was around, it spurned them to try harder to reach her status, to be accepted by her and everyone else as her equal. The way this was possible, was because it was accepted by everyone that she was just on a different level than them. Satsuki was just the perfect girl.

She was still a cold hearted bitch though, who had some animosity with Naruto, and, ironically, was the only person that she acknowledged.

It was weird. Naruto and Satsuki had been in the same class for most of their educational career, and every year she pushed people away until the beginning of this year where she had chosen to sit next to Naruto on the first day of school. Before she would just just coolly tell people off whenever they tried to talk to her, or, if they were extremely unlucky she would just ignore them. Despite her cold nature to others, she was still admired by others, revered by her fanclub, even after the one time she gave Lee a dressing down for being too loud during a free study period.

In contrast, Naruto was rather average, with slightly better than normal grades, but next to no friends. Scratch that; no friends. Despite his unique blond hair, corillian blue eyes, and weird whisker marks, Naruto was largely ignored. People's eyes glazed over him, and his unique physical appearance marked him as a delinquent. He was quiet mostly preferring reading to socializing, but when someone did approach him at odd times, Naruto made sure he was friendly and nice, or at the very least cordial. Still, for all his openness and friendliness, he was mostly just another student.

That was until the first day of the school year that year.

 _*September 5_ _th_ _; Konoha West-Central High: 7:52 am*_

 _Naruto flipped the page of his book, letting out a sigh. It was eight minutes to the first class of the school year, and Naruto couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. His homeroom class consisted of several people who he knew were really loud. Not that he had a problem of the volume, when he was younger he had been quite loud himself, so it'd be hypocritical for him to deny others the right to socialize at whatever volume they wanted._

 _No, the real problem that he had was the people that he had in his homeroom, or, rather, four people. Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Rock Lee._

 _They were nice people, he knew having seen them help several people, classmates and random people they met on the street. They were popular, each for different reasons. Sakura and Ino were best friends, who were equal in everything pertaining to school. Sakura was known for being the better academic one, always ready to help someone with a warm smile. Ino was the go-to person for gossip and any personal relationship problems that one might have. They both were very accepting of everyone, and were known for their personal rivalry._

 _Inuzuka Kiba, in contrast wasn't really that smart, just average, but excelled in anything physical, almost like Naruto. He was well known in the school, especially to the girls, for his handsomeness and personal canine Akamaru; a white dog that came up to Kiba's hip and would sooner lick someone's face off then bit it. He was brash and loud, but nice… nice enough with the girls that it was believed he wouldn't have any problems making his own 'pack' when he grew up. Rock Lee, was the captain of the Boxing Club, but it was rumored that he was taking lessons in a different martial arts. He was probably the nicest guy of the whole year, always willing to lend a hand, or two… or his feet… or teeth. He was eccentric and bright, loud but compassionate. It was widely known for setting outrageous challenges with himself that had even more outrageous consequences if he failed._

 _How he managed to carry all the girls' bags in the school to them in less than half an hour while walking on his hands would forever be a mystery._

 _All in all they were good people with bright futures ahead of them. They never really associated themselves with Naruto, so he was really unnerved whenever he found them with their eyes gazing at him analytically. It was really out of character for them, especially Lee, but he hadn't called them out on it. It had been going on for years now, three this october, and Naruto was getting really creeped out by it. They weren't even the only ones doing it; Hinata's creepy cousin did it, the bun-haired girl, Tenten, did it, he even_ felt _Aburame Shino's eyes on him._

 _Shivering slightly at the memory, Naruto pushed the thought of his weird classmate's behavior behind him. It didn't matter to him, not before, so it wouldn't now. With that in mind._

'Hailey took a shuddering breath,' _Naruto read,_ 'heedless of the blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. She smiled at Wil, her teeth crimson red.

" **God's,"** Wil said, his voice shaking terribly. **"Gods, please. Please-please Hailey stay here."** His throat felt raw from all his yelling before, his fingers, dirty and bloody, gently moved the aqua-colored hair from her face. She was so beautiful still. Even pale and sweaty, even covered in blood, and even with the horrid lighting of the dank cell they shared, she was beautiful.

" **Hey, cupcake,"** she said. Her voice sounded dead, like Kyle's when he had found him. Her blue eyes, once lively and glittering with mischief, looked dull and bland. **"Don't make that face,"** She said. **"I like it better when you smile. Smile would you… just once… one last time…"**

Wil felt something inside him break. Maybe it was his heart. Maybe it was his mind. His sanity? His temper? All of them? He didn't know, only aware that it did break. He pulled her closer, his lips pulling back into a smile.

It hurt.

More than any torture he had endured at Emily's hands. More than seeing his parents killed, more than having the flames of hell licking his flesh.

But he did it.

For her.

He smiled, when her eye's, so full of pain, locked onto his. He smiled when her body sagged against his. He smiled when the light in her eyes faded. He smiled when the rank salt smell assaulted his-'

 _Naruto blinked, suddenly aware of how quiet the class was. Glancing up, he first noted that the teacher wasn't in the room, before realizing everyone was glancing at him. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto realized that they weren't looking_ at _him but near him. Following their eyes, Naruto found himself looking into the deep abyss of Uchiha Satsuki's eyes._

 _Blinking in surprise, Naruto glanced around again. He was currently seated in the last row of desks next to the window. It was prime seating for him, as he had great eyesight, and didn't have to worry about people looking at him without making it obvious. Seeing that there was no one around him that could draw the attention of the Uchiha, Naruto looked back at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly._

" _Ah… hello?"_

 _Satsuki's eyes narrowed dangerously, causing Naruto to wince internally. Was it something he said? The brunette stared at him for a couple more seconds, before she turned and sat in the seat directly to his right. She placed her bag down, took out a pad of paper and pen, set them neatly on her desktop, before gluing her eyes to the blackboard, firmly ignoring Naruto's curious eyes and the gaze of everyone in the class. Seeing as he wasn't going to get a response from her, Naruto just turned back to his book._

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the driver speak over the intercom.

" _We will be arriving at our destination shortly. Please remember to grab all belongings that you have."_ Knowing the other kids would be doing the same, Naruto glanced at himself, and patted his pockets.

Phone?

Check.

Wallet?

Check.

School ID?

Check.

Gum?

Check.

Compressed paint pellets?

Double check.

Naruto smirked, taking out his pack of gum. He pulled out a stick, thinking about the mayhem he was going to cause on the school field trip. He wouldn't be able to anything elaborate, as he didn't have his school bag with him because they were optional to bring to field trips, and he would immediately be singled out. Still he could do a lot with two small baggies full of compressed paint pellets of different varieties.

He pulled a stick out of his pack, and moved to put in back in his pocket, but noticed Satsuki's eyes following it. Tilting it back to her, he offered her a piece.

"You want one?" he asked, causing her eyes to flicker to him. She didn't move or even say anything for a while, just stared at him, her gaze holding… something different in it. After a while of not saying anything, Naruto just shrugged, flipped packet shut and again moved to put it back in his pocket.

"Yes."

Naruto froze for a second before looking at Satsuki and blinking. _'That was unexpected.'_ Naruto may have offered her a piece, but he didn't really expect her to actually accept. Actually he didn't know what he expected, so he couldn't really be surprised.

Flashing her a small grin, Naruto held out the packet of gum to her. She took it, careful to not touch his hand, and pulled out a piece. Taking off the rapping she stuck the gum in her mouth, before rolling up the wrapper and handing both the packet and wrapper to him.

' _Geez, the least she could do is throw away her own trash,'_ Naruto thought, taking them from her. Stuffing the gum back into his pocket, Naruto stood when he felt the bus slowing down. Holding onto the seat in front of him to steady himself, he survived the bus giving one final jerk before stepping into the aisle, chewing his gum idelly.

Almost as one, the students rose and surged into the aisle, effectively clogging themselves like cholesterol in an artery. Mentally rolling his eyes, Naruto shuffled forward, noting Satsuki right behind him. A minute later the students of Naruto's class were standing outside in the fridge air. It was October seventh, just a couple of days before his birthday so Naruto was expecting the slightly chilly air.

They stood in a large dirt lot with several buses parked not to far away. It was surrounded on all sides by large thick trees, all the leaves turned from fiery yellow, reds, and oranges to a purple so deep it appeared black at first sight. Behind them was the road they took to get here. Instead of the paved concrete, it was nothing more than two trenches in the ground, conveniently spaced out perfectly to allow automated vehicles to arrive and depart. On the opposite side of the dirt lot, a large opening in the trees showed the path to their destination.

"Get into your groups!" a voice called out. "Remember your groups are based off of your homeroom class! From there your class teacher will take roll call and will assign your buddy for the trip! Your buddy is there to make sure you don't do anything wrong or wander off as you will do for them!"

' _Buddy? What are we, five?'_ Despite his thoughts, Naruto made his way over to his class, where his teacher stood with a sign that red " **2-A** " on it. The man holding it was the the assistant teacher, Mizuki. He was a man of average height, with pale blue hair that hung limply around his thin face. Like the teacher, Iruka, he wore a grey jacket over his white button up shirt, and black slacks. Unlike Iruka, he wore a armband around his right arm signifying his status as assistant teacher.

Next to him stood Iruka. He was around the same height as Mizuki, a large scar bridging his nose to run from cheek to cheek. His brown hair was pulled up into the pineapple ponytail that Shika favored. In his hands was a clipboard, but he was looking at the assembling students. For a second, his gaze landed on Naruto and his eyes hardened before moving on. Outwardly showing no sign of caring, Naruto couldn't help the emptiness that seemed to grow inside him.

It wasn't a common occurrence, but it certainly wasn't rare. Having those eyes, filled with contempt and loathing directed at him was something he could remember in his earliest memories, but no matter how long he lived with it, he still felt the stabbing pain, followed by the encompassing loneliness.

Shaking himself, Naruto didn't let it get to him, and instead looked on the bright side.

He found his prank victim for today.

Standing in the midst of his fellow homeroom classmates, Naruto occupied his time waiting for Iruka to start roll call by rolling up the sleeves of his white button up shirt. Unlike the other boys, Naruto had chosen to wear his vest today instead of the blazer. Not at all bothered by the cool air, Naruto stuffed his hands into into his pockets, feeling his left hand touch the baggies of paint pellets.

Yeah, Iruka was in for a rude awakening.

"Okay," the scared man called, "I will start roll. Aburame Shino."

"... Present." Naruto shook his head, smiling. Hearing Shino's monotone always amused Naruto for some reason. Iruka continued, getting affirmatives across the board.

"Uchiha Satsuki."

"Here."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Yo," Naruto grinned knowing he had irked Iruka by the subtle twitching of his left eyebrow.

"Yamanaka Ino," he continued, not missing a beat. Naruto had to hand it to the man, he at least kept as professional as possible.

"Here," the blond girl called.

"Good." Iruka glanced around the group. "Now, your partners. Aburame Shino and Uchiha Satsuki. Maya Tsubaki and Rana Kurome. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. Rock Lee and Raizen Ruzak…" Iruka went on, before finishing the list, not calling Naruto's name. "Alright, make sure you go and introduce yourself to your partner, before we move out." The other students started milling about looking for their 'buddy.' Sakura and Ino were already at each other's throats, Lee was trying to get his partner to join him in doing one handed push-ups, and Shino and Satsuki were just standing by each other not saying anything much to Naruto's amusement.

Doing the obvious, Naruto slipped through the crowd, taking care not to touch anyone, and approached Iruka and Mizuki.

"Iruka-sensei," Naruto called gaining the man's attention. "You didn't call my name."

"I know Naruto," he said, his eyes unpleasant but his voice steady. "I've decided that you will stick with Mizuki for the duration of the trip."

Biting his lip, Naruto glanced at Mizuki who gave him a gentle smile. "Did… did I do something wrong?" He hasn't been caught doing any pranks ever, so Iruka couldn't be doing this because he found out Naruto had swapped the sugar in the staff room with salt the other day.

"No, Naruto-kun," Mizuki said before Iruka could say anything. "There is an odd number of students in the class, and so there would have been a group of three. But that would have been unfair, so we decided that we'd have you stick with me since you don't have any friends."

' _Damn, Mizuki-sensei, tell me how you really see it.'_ Instead of saying that, Naruto nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll just stay by Mizuki-sensei today." He gave them both a smile.

Mizuki smiled back, while Iruka gave a militaristic nod, before turning to the group or students.

"Alright, everyone," he called, gaining everyone's attention. "Let's head out, we have a little bit of a walk before we reach our destination. Stay close, and don't wander off." With that the scared man turned and started walking away, class 2-A following behind him.

"Come on, Naruto," Mizuki said laying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll like the castle." The blue-haired man smiled.

Naruto smiled back, not really feeling it. For some reason, when Mizuki's hand touched his shoulder, he felt the desire to judo throw him over his shoulder and get away from the man. But it only lasted a second, and Naruto contemplated brushing the feeling off.

" _When venturing into the unknown, Your instincts could make all the difference. Trust them. There is logic in why your instincts tell you what to do. Find that logic, and you survive."_

"Sure," Naruto said, waiting for Mizuki to turn and walk away, which he did after flashing Naruto another smile. Chewing his lip instead of his gum, Naruto followed.

Hokage Shiro was an incredibly large castle that rested in the middle of the Konohagakure no Sato's western forest that took over almost half of the western sector's total land area. It was rather young, only a little over a hundred years old, having been built right after the founding of Konohagakure no Sato. Despite it's relative old age, even at the time of it's construction the layout of the building was rather traditional at best and old fashioned in worst case scenarios. It was in fact based off the castle design of the long forgotten Azuchi-Momoyama period, but that was just the architecture of the castle, over the next hundred years where Hokage Shiro was used as the residence of the leader of Konoha, the four leaders that lived there added there own additions to the overall surrounding area. After the Third Great War, the Hokage Shiro was retired as a national monument opened only for select days to the public.

As Naruto followed the rest of his classmates into the castle grounds next to Mizuki, he figured that the final product was rather different than the original design. The grounds of a traditional Azuchi-Momoyama castle was usually flat with no tree's as that specific time period was known for it's numerous wars. The flat area and open land would serve as an obstacle for any enemies that tried to attack the castle as they would have to cross the flat open expanse to reach the castle, giving the defenders ample time to set up defences. In contrast to that logic, the grounds to Hokage Shiro was actually more reminiscent to that of the garden of an Edo era fortress.

Stepping through the gates of the castle grounds, Naruto was hard pressed to suppress a gasp, a action several of his classmates weren't able to replicate. Put simply, the grounds where beautiful. A woodland area on both sides of the stone walls of the castle grounds, Naruto didn't need the wall to tell when he stepped onto the castle grounds because of the sheer difference in beauty. In contrast to the plane forest on the outside, the inside was wide and more open with a elegant stone path starting at the gates that sound and split, obviously weaved throughout the whole grounds like a spiderweb. On the left was a wide open grassy area littered with the white petals of the sakura trees dotted throughout the the grounds. To the right of the path was a large pond, it's surface reflecting the sunlight that streamed from the sky. Several sakura leaves floated on the surface of the pond.

"The original grounds of Hokage Castle was actually rather small," Iruka said gaining the attention of the class. "The founder of the city and the original occupant of the these grounds, Senju Hashirama, was a man that really loved the freedom of the forest, and so only had the castle proper made. The rest of the grounds were made by the next three occupants of the house. Senju Tobirama, Hashirama's younger brother, later expanded the grounds after an attempt on his life after he took control when his brother died."

The class continued on, looking around the grounds in awe, Iruka's voice bringing pictures into their vivid imagination.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen, was the third leader of Konoha, and led her for over than sixty years, longer than the Senju brother's combined. After the Third Great War nearly twenty years ago, he stepped down, and gave control over to a young war veteran, Namikaze Minato. Unfortunately, Yondaime-sama died just under sixteen years ago protecting the village from terrorist attacks from an unknown group just after the start of his second year into leadership. To this day, he is considered Konoha's greatest hero."

The class rounded a cluster of trees, and bore witness to the actual castle. Hokage Shiro. With the foliage around the students couldn't see the collection of stones that hid the castle's supporting pillars or whatever was behind it. With pale cream colored walls, and a vibrant red shingled roof that sloped into triangles, Hokage Shiro was an impressive structure; imposing to its enemies with it's towering height, 120 feet if Iruka was to be trusted, and awe inspiring to the people of Konoha.

"During his time as leader," Iruka continued, "the Sandaime had the garden put in as a present to his wife, who loved the Edo era. With the death of the Yondaime's death, and Sandaime-sama reaching such an impressive age, he called a Kage Summit for the other major countries that was hosted at this very castle. For two whole days, the Kages deliberated, and when they emerged they announced the implementation of a council to help them run their individual cities; something that the Sandaime had proposed. With the Yondaime, deciding to have the business matters of the Hokage to the Hokage Tower in the city, Sandaime-sama decided to make Hokage Shiro a national monument to support the Fourth's wishes. Now Sandaime-sama has taken over as the Hokage again, until a suitable replacement can be found."

Iruka fell silent as they reached the stairs that led to the castle, and Naruto took the time to take a glance behind him. Several classes were behind him, all looking around in awe at the grounds of Hokage Shiro. Smirking to himself, Naruto glanced at Mizuki to his right, but found the blue-haired man glancing up, he head giving a small nod. Following Mizuki's eyes, Naruto scanned the top of the castle, where several flickers of movement dashed from one end of the building to the other. It happened so fast, Naruto could only blink, and squint trying to zone in on one of the black dots, but when he looked again they were all gone. It happened so fast, he was inclined to believe it was just his imagination.

"Naruto," Mizuki said, causing Naruto to look at his smiling face. "Come on, I have to walk at the front, because I'll be leading the tour until lunch." Clasping a hand on Naruto's shoulder, his white teeth flashing in the sun. Glancing back at the roof of the castle, Naruto blinked at the brightness of the sun that flashed through the clouds.

' _Must've been my imagination,'_ Naruto mused. Turning back to Mizuki, he felt his heart jump at the man's face. he was still smiling, but his eyes held something, but before Naruto could get over his shock to investigate, Mizuki's face morphed into a quizzical expression. Masking his sudden nervousness, Naruto flashed the assistant-teacher a wide grin.

"Sure, let's go," he said. Mizuki gazed at Naruto for a second longer, before giving his shoulder a squeeze slightly harder than necessary .

"Okay." The man turned and led the way through the crowd, Naruto following, his eyes lingering on his back. He knew that Mizuki had been looking at him in a weird way. His face had changed before Naruto had been given a chance to identify what it was, but he knew that it was definitely weird- bad, if his instincts were to be trusted. "Class 2-A," Mizuki called, "Follow me." He turned and led the way up the steps.

Narrowing his eyes at the man's back, Naruto followed, the spearhead of the rest of the class. Pushing the weird feeling blossoming in his chest aside, Naruto focused on the tour, but never took his eyes off Mizuki for more than five seconds.

Despite the weird feeling in Naruto's chest, he had a great time touring the castle. Hokage Shiro was larger than he had originally anticipated, and so even though they arrived on the grounds at ten in the morning, by the time twelve came around, they had only toured the first floor, and part of the second floor. The whole thing was floored with deep brown, varnished oak wood. The walls were decorated with elegant paintings, or expensive looking vases, or swords, or even suited of armor. All in all the whole place was way out of Naruto's depth, being too high end for his preference. He might live in a house that was one set away from a mansion, but that didn't mean he was comfortable in places like that.

Besides, just because it was a historical monument didn't mean he wasn't going to prank the whole place down to the plumbing… in fact, if he had his way, the plumbing was going to be the first to go.

After two whole hours of walking around the large castle, Mizuki walked the kids to the back of the castle, where several paper walls were taken down to make place for all of the children to sit and have lunch. Several minutes ago numerous maids had entered and distributed bento boxes to all the students. When Naruto had gotten his, he practically inhaled his food, before slinking back to the back wall next to a shoji door.

Smirking to himself, Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black pellet. Rolling it between his pointer finger and thumb, he waited patiently for a maid to come and get his empty bento.

Eventually one did.

The maides wore white yakata, decorated with pink flowers, a red obi wrapped around their midriff. She was rather plain; brown haired with green eye and a rather wide mouth.

Holding the bento outwith one hand, Naruto let his fingers go limp as soon as her fingers touched the box making it clatter to the ground.

"Ah," Naruto exclaimed, leaning forward quickly to gather the two chopsticks, and reached to pick up the bento box itself, but the maid leaned over to pick it up. Glancing from the hand to the face of the maid. He smiled at her, and she returned one in kind, her eyes closing in the process.

' _Well that makes this easy,'_ Naruto thought. Being sure to concentrate on the small opening over her chest, he expertly flicked the small black pellet into her yukata.

"Sorry," Naruto said, _'for this and what is about to happen.'_

"It's quite okay," the woman said, standing up after taking the chopsticks from Naruto. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"No," he said, "thank you." The maid nodded and started to walk away. _'Three seconds.'_ Naruto gazed at the woman as she walked away with slight guilt. The pellet was a rather simple thing he had invented. By mixing clay with ink and freezing it, Naruto had made a pellet that would would melt when it was kneaded after heating up releasing a sizable amount of ink. At first he had first used clay and ink, but when he had tried it out first, it hadn't created anything by a sludge.

But then he had mixed the clay with a bunch of water, and after one rather tenacious skunk, falling from the second floor of a bank, and inadvertently buying a vibrator, Naruto had the final version of his ink pellet. With the water softening the clay, the ink was better infused with the clay. The problem came with trying to solidify the clay again. By freezing the solution into balls, Naruto had let the water that infused with the freeze, then made a different solution where the clay heated to a liquid state. After submerging the balls in the new solution, the frozen ink-clay-water mixture melted, while the heated clay cooled and made a thin shell.

By kneading the pellet lightly and adding heat, the clay broke, letting out the slimy-ink contained inside.

"KYA!"

Hesitating for a second to let everyone's attention to fall on the maid, Naruto slipped out of the door he was sitting next to.

' _Poor girl.'_ Naruto didn't like using people, and sense the pellet was made of ink, the stain it made wouldn't come out. He'd make it up to the girl, somehow, but he still felt bad that he had used her. Pushing those thoughts to the side, Naruto made his way down the elegant hall quickly, taking a left then a right until he made it to the stairs he had noticed when they were on the tour.

Disappearing downstairs, Naruto made sure to be careful not to miss a step. The worst way to be caught was by an injury you could have avoided by being careful. Plus it was humiliating being caught when you haven't even finished your prank.

He knew from experience.

As he went down, the light from upstairs dwindled, until it was all he could do so see into the darkness. When his foot finally hit the cement floor of the basement, Naruto stretched out his hand until he felt the wall, dragging it across the surface until he was sure that he had touched any place where the switch could have been. He tried the other wall, and found what he was look for. Flipping the switch on, Naruto had to blink at the sudden light.

A single light bulb hung from the ceiling. Glancing around, Naruto stood for a while analyzing the numerous pipes before he moved. Taking out one whole bag of his pellets, Naruto approached the water softener, opened the salt deposit port he smiled when he was that the salt had been recently refilled. Popping open the seal on the bag, he overturned the back, causing the pellets to bounce around as they rebounded of the salt. Before long they all fell into the space between the salt disappearing from sight.

The pellets that he just put in there reacted violently when salt and water mingled with them. More specifically, they dissolved in water and when salt is added they explode. Nothing cataclysmic, or even life-threatening only flashy and effective, which is what Naruto wanted. Because the water softener was connected to all the plumbing, the result would cause all the outlets (the sink, the shower, the hose outlet, etc.) to expel water out wards violently.

Even the toilets.

Chuckling to himself, Naruto left quickly making sure to close the salt deposit port and turn off the light. His next stop would be the public bathrooms. He was going to leave dissolvable paint pellets, red ones, in the faucet heads. He wanted to put them in shower head, and even in the kitchen, but he wouldn't be able to get there. He had seen maids there when he was doing recon- erm, during the tour.

After sneaking into the male and female public bathrooms and leaving his pellets hidden, Naruto stood at the foot of the stairs contemplating whether to go upstairs. He could, but he'd be pushing the time limit he had put on himself. If he was gone for too long, people would get suspicious of what he was up to, and he might get in trouble as being the only culprit for the prank when it went off. On the other hand, he did get finished earlier than expected, so he might be able to set one or two shower heads up before he made his way back.

Glancing in the direction where the students were eating, Naruto hesitated for a second longer before he ran up the stairs, his feet making no noise. Reaching the top Naruto ghosted through the hallways, making sure to keep close to a door whenever possible. Rounding a corner, he made it to the end of a hallway before peaking around the corner, and stiffening a gasp.

Not fifteen feet away, Mizuki stood, his back to Naruto, in front of him stood Iruka, his head held in a headlock. Iruka's face was red, and Naruto could only see it because of the ornate mirror on the wall.

"I'm going to kill you, Iruka," Mizuki said. His voice cold but holding a certain glee. "I'm going to kill you, then I'm going to take the scroll, and slaughter the kids, and other teachers. But not Naruto." Mizuki chuckled, and Naruto saw his reflection lick his lips. "Not quickly at least. I'm going to torture the demon. Imma burn him, then whip him, then I'm gonna take the skin off his back, and rub some dirt in it, then piss on it. Then," Mizuki's shuddered, like he was experiencing great pleasure, "then I will take the skin off his face, and stab him in the heart and watch the light leave his eyes. You should be happy Iruka, I gonna kill the _thing_ that killed your parents. Got anything to say before you die?"

What happened next neither Mizuki nor Naruto were expecting.

Iruka, in an incredible display of strength reached up and grasped the back of Mizuki's neck, and flipped him over his shoulder. Mizuki gave a strangled cry, before he landed flat on his back with and 'Omph!' Not losing a beat, Iruka took a kunai, a freaking _kunai_ , and stabbed down, but Mizuki managed to roll away, suffering a deep slash on his side.

"S-stay… away fr-from… Naruto," Iruka gasped out, stumbling back a little. Mizuki got to his feet and faced Iruka, before his eyes, flickered over to Naruto, widening slightly before he smiled.

"So great for you to join us, Naruto-kun," he said, causing Iruka to glance at him over his shoulder.

"Naruto!" he shouted in surprise. "Get out of here! Go get the other teachers!"

' _What the fuck is going on!?'_ Naruto was surprised and, after hearing Mizuki's little spiel, quite terrified. Taking a step back, Naruto's eyes fell on a large beige scroll laying on the floor.

"Be a good boy, Naruto-kun," Mizuki called. "Can you wait there while I kill Iruka?"

Acting on instinct, Naruto rushed forward, and grasped the fabric connecting the scroll from one end to the other. Yanking it back with a giant yank, Naruto turned just in time to see a kunai whistling through the air toward him. Still not totally in control of his body, Naruto watched as his hand reached up and snatched the blade out of the air by the hilt. Blinking at the sudden action, Naruto glanced at Iruka and Mizuki who were both similarly stunned.

Mizuki was the first to break out of his astonished gaze.

"Demon!"

He lunged forward the other kunai in his hand poised to stab Naruto, but he never got close as Iruka stepped in between the two, his own blade slashing through the air aiming to sing into Mizuki's neck, but the blue-haired man just leaned to the side, letting it leave a small cut on his neck. Using a foot stop his momentum, Mizuki gave a slash at Iruka's stomach, but it was blocked.

"Naruto! Run!" Iruka yelled again.

Somehow gaining control of himself, Naruto turned tail and ran to the nearest window. Throwing it open, he slipped through onto the slanted roof of the castle. Not compensating for the slant, Naruto's foot slipped, and with an undignified yelp, fell down the roof. Rolling with his momentum, Naruto only caught a glimpse of the edge of the roof, before he was thrown into the air.

The fact that Naruto was actually almost fifty feet into the air saved him. With the hang time that he was allowed from the hight, he managed to tighten his core and twist in the air until he was upright. Seeing the slanted surface of the castle's support, Naruto managed to land on his feet, rolling so to avoid breaking any bones, while he hugged the scroll to his chest.

It still hurt though, and by the time he was at the bottom, the world was spinning and Naruto was sure he'd wake up tomorrow morning with a bruises. Pushing any needless thoughts into the back of his mind, the blond sprinted to the wooded area surrounding the castle. The time it took for him to reach the trees was shorter than what it would have been if he wasn't in a life-threatening situation. At the edge of the woods, he looked back his lungs burning, but luckily he was used to exercise.

As he watched, one of the windows (not the one he exited out of, he noted) exploded and several black blurs came out before headed in his direction.

All thoughts of any type of exhaustion was wiped from his mind, and Naruto turned and ran knowing somehow that they were after the scroll he had.

He didn't get further than the first clearing he came across. He was able to note the stone path that cut through the clearing and the pond on the far left, a gentle creek running smoothly from it, before a kunai was whistling through the air aiming to puncture him.

Letting out a yelp, Naruto dove to the side, and saved himself from getting Naruto-kabobed from behind from a sword thrust. Rolling back to his feet, Naruto glanced around the clearing his blue eyes wide and wild. There were three people, one obviously a woman; one to either side, and the other in front of him. Judging from their earlier behavior, that was his only saving grace because if one got behind him, Naruto was positive they would have found something sharp to poke him with.

The woman was the one with the sword, to his left, while an absurdly burly-looking guy stood directly in front of him. The man to his left looked pretty normal, and Naruto was immediately on guard. The others would be easier to handle; be faster than Big Man, hit him in the head a couple of times, and get inside Stabbies guard and give her a bunch of body shots. But the unassuming one… well as unassuming as someone wearing the most clichè ninja attire can be.

They even had the whole face covered, sans the eyes thing going on.

Anyway the regular looking guy would be his biggest concern, because Naruto didn't have a clue to his skillset.

Now most people would be freaking out if they had been in his situation, but Naruto managed to keep a (semi)calm vistage. Don't get him wrong, he was damn near close to pissing his pants and letting the urine run down his legs if they still had the strength to hold him. Probably not, because his knees felt only slightly more solid than jello. But he stood his ground, when the three surrounded him, and, after a couple moments to take a deep breath, Naruto managed to firm his resolve.

' _This isn't different from those stupid gangs that try to corner me,'_ he thought, his eyes flicking from one opponent to the next. After a few seconds of analyzing his enemies, Naruto slid into a basic stance, placing the scroll on the ground behind him. _'I don't know how any of these guys fight, so it'd be best if I kept it basic and nothing too flashy or specialized.'_

Seeing him take a stance, one of them, the woman, snorted. As a martial artist he couldn't fault her. His stance was simple, a wide base with his feet shoulder width apart. He faced them sidelong (right side forward), his left fist held loosely next to his waist, while his right hand was held open in front of him, his palm facing to his left. It wasn't even an official stance; better than a brawler's but nothing on a stance from a official martial artist.

But it served his purpose. While it wasn't the best, it was adaptable and Naruto would be able to switch into a style at a moments notice- not that he wanted to show the three in front of him any of his true skills a moment before he had to.

"Give up," a voice said from his right, and Naruto's eyes snapped over to the unassuming man, narrowing. Iruka, the bastard, had nearly been killed over this overgrown toilet paper roll, and now Naruto's life was on the line for it; no way in hell was he giving it up. Besides he didn't know if he would be allowed to leave if he did. The man seemed to get the message, because he gave a nonchalant flick of his wrist, and Big Man moved forward. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Naruto, his fist drawn back. Naruto's eyes met Big Man's and he got the impression that he was smiling. Quickly, faster than Naruto would have thought him possible of, the man's fist was swinging at Naruto.

Still Naruto had faced someone faster.

Waiting until the last possible moment, Naruto twisted his torso, his right fist shooting out in a fist with all his momentum behind him, sinking into Big Man's stomach. _'It felt like I hit a wall!'_ His opponent stumbled back, but Naruto followed. Shuffling forward quickly, Naruto stuck his right foot behind Big Man's legs. His left leg tensed before he exploded forward, he left hand slamming into the man's chest in a glorified push. The man's balance was totally gone, but Naruto didn't let up as he jumped forward in the same motion, his left knee slamming into the man's chest as well. By then they were both falling toward, Naruto's right hand grasping the man's face, before thrusting it into the ground.

Not even checking to see if the man was out (Naruto knew he was out cold) Naruto dashed off of him, and aimed a kick at the sword wielder. She spun out the way, elegantly switching from a dodge to an attack by lashing out with a swipe of her sword, but Naruto wasn't there anymore having turned to rush the last guy. Aiming a simple right hook, Naruto knew a moment of panic when his opponent weaved out the way, lashing out with a jab.

Naruto sidestepped, before ducking to avoid losing his head. He liked it where it was, thank you very much. Staying low, Naruto placed his hands on the ground, lashing out with a sweeping ground kick at the sword woman, which she jumped over. Not deterred in the least, Naruto leaned onto his hands and spun swinging his legs out. He felt one of his legs connect, heard a grunt, before he quickly rolled back to his feet quickly regaining his bearings.

Stabby still had her arms crossed in a guard, while the other man stood a little further away, his body tense. Slowly, the man and woman started closing in while Naruto shuffled to his right where the scroll lay.

' _Breathe… Nothing good comes from not taking opportunities. If your opponent lets up, take the time to breathe, think, evaluate...'_

From the single pass they had at each other, Naruto knew that his opponents were extremely skilled. Stabby was manageable. While she was good with a sword, she had the same problem that most swordsman/woman had- they needed to stay on the ground. He already had a plan on how to deal with her, but he needed to stall the other at the same time.

If only he could be in two places at once.

Forcibly pushing those thoughts away, Naruto narrowed his eye's at the guy. He was obviously at least passable in hand-to-hand combat, and he was agile. Naruto was almost sure that he was going to hit him with his move earlier, but he hadn't and he didn't even know how the man dodged. If only he ha-

Suddenly Naruto dove to the right, watching as a spear of water hurled through the space he had been standing just a second ago. Rolling next to the scroll, Naruto snatched it up, before delving straight into self-preservation mode, moving this way and that just to avoid the jets of water that shot at him, as well as the kunai and Stabby trying her hardest to do some type of moving surgery on him.

' _WHAT THE HELL! WATER SPEARS!? WHERE!? WHAT!?'_ His thoughts earned him a cut on his cheek and another on his side right under his ribs. _'WOULD YOU STOP DOING THAT!'_ Luckily for him the swordswoman over extended and he was able to capsize. Spinning, Naruto caught Stabby with a roundhouse kick to her chest. He heard a satisfying _'omph!'_ but wasn't able to follow up, as a wall of water shot towards him.

Naruto dove to the left, rolling awkwardly with the scroll on his back, how it got there, he didn't know but he didn't really care. He wasn't able to think anymore, as the guy shouted something (Naruto couldn't hear him over the pounding of his heart) and ball, _balls_ , of water shot out of his mouth, moving out of the man's mouth so quickly, Naruto didn't have time to move before one hit him in his shoulder, the other his hip. Letting out a mangled cry, Naruto landed on his back, the scroll flying into the trees. he felt his hand grab something. Clutching it tightly, Naruto let his instincts take over as he was trying to blink the lights out of his eyes.

His arm swung on it's own, and there was a resounding _clang_ and sparks exploded. There was a startled silence, that filled a heartbeat before Naruto lashed out with a kick feeling it connect with something. Finally managing to take some initiative over his body, Naruto rolled backwards onto his feet. Stumbling slightly, Naruto let his eyes wander the clearing, oddly enough not feeling any pain.

In front of him, Stabby knelt holding her knee, her katana laying at her feet. Further behind her the man stood, his posture conveying how stunned he was. Glancing at his hand, Naruto found a kunai the blade slicing into his hand as he hadn't grabbed the hilt.

' _Fight.'_

Naruto didn't hesitate any longer, dashing forward, re-adjusting his grip on the kunai as he went. As he approached the woman, he saw her reach to grab her sword in a desperate attempt to defend herself. Not giving her a chance, Naruto stepped on her hand as he ran past, slamming the butt of the kunai into her temple causing her cry to be cut off prematurely. Not stopping, Naruto dashed at his last opponent, who raised his arms and started to run through handsigns.

"Suiton: Teppodama!"

A large blast of water shot at Naruto, who recklessly ran forward, jumping at the last second. Rising over the large blast of water, Naruto reared his arm back then whipped it forward, releasing the kunai. Time seemed to slow as the kunai approached the man, his eyes growing and he shifted trying to dodge. It was not to be, and the knife sank into the the man's stomach.

Naruto heard a grunt and then suddenly he was falling, gravity taking hold of him. He landed in a crouch, giving one last burst of speed from his muscles. Naruto dashed at the man, still holding his stomach, slamming his fist straight into his face, the man's nose giving a satisfying _crunch_. Letting his momentum carry him a little further, Naruto skidded to a halt his labored breathing filling the otherwise silent clearing.

Rather suddenly the adrenaline in his blood faded away, and Naruto was hit with a wave of pain. His chest felt like he had been on the wrong side of a sledgehammer, and his legs nearly gave out from underneath him. He swayed, staggering as his legs immediately moved to keep him upright, managing to make his way to a tree, leaning heavily on it.

He was covered in a multitude of cuts that stung from he sweat. After a few minutes Naruto was able to calm his breathing enough that he noticed something sticking out of the bushes not to far from him.

The scroll.

Stumbling a little, Naruto walked over and retrieved it, before going to the nearest tree and sliding onto his butt. Grabbing a kunai that was embedded in the ground near him, Naruto leaned his back onto the bark, suddenly aware that he was drenched in water as well as sweat.

Sunlight broke through the clouds overhead, brightening the clearing Naruto sat in. It was a disaster, several craters filled with water dotted the ground while the ground was carved as if it had been exposed to an extremely large butcher's knife.

Or a katana, who knows.

On the other side of the clearing a tree was toppled, oddly enough, and the trees around it were dripping water as if they had just weathered a storm. Further beyond, Naruto saw the tip of Hokage Shiro.

' _Is Iruka-sensei alright?'_ In his mind Naruto saw Mizuki holding Iruka. _'Why did Mizuki-sensei…? What's so special about this roll of paper?'_ He glanced at the large scroll in his lap, hefting it with a little effort. He looked for where the paper started, but no matter how much he turned it he couldn't find it. It was like trying to find the ripped part on a roll of tape. growling in frustration, Naruto prepared to throw the scroll down next to him, but saw a spot of black. Taking a closer look, Naruto was, at first, going to put it off as an ink spot, or a coffee stain, but saw scribbly lines and modified kanji. Leaning closer, Naruto raised his hand to touch it.

' _What the-'_

"Naruto!"

AN: Please comment and review. Also check out my bio if you like my writing.

See ya

~Sempai


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